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Krakow: Sunny & Beautiful Day At Stare Miasto Old Town

Eastern Europe // Krakow: Sunny & Beautiful Day At Stare Miasto Old Town – Had a mixed feeling on the last day in Krakow as the sad was about to leave this beautiful city, yet the happy was sunshine was out finally in Krakow during my 3 days holiday. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see the Old Town in a sunny day, so I went out early with a friend while the other two were still snoring on the bunk beds.

Despite I’ve visited the Stare Miasto on the night before, yet seeing it in day time just gave a different experience and view. Small little Stare Miasto, but magnificent and beautiful. Krakow is a good place for short getaway in Eastern Europe, not to mention, cheap food too! I am quite amazed on how they restore and maintain the buildings and attractions Europe, the conservation is somehow different with Malaysia’s. Not overly restored, yet maintaining a little bit of its originality.

After touring around, it’s noon and we spent time at McDonald’s while waiting for our bus to Zakopane, which will then connects us to Poprad in Slovakia, then to Bratislava.

Wavel Castle, one of the attraction in Stare Miasto, didn’t go in because there’s entrance fee.

A selfy in front of Wawel Castle to prove my visit.

Church of St Anne.

This is the Town Hall Tower.

Eros Bendato sculpture by Igor Mitoraj.

St Mary’s Basilica with two interesting unidentical watch tower.

A picture with Polish teenage girls after answering a few of their questionnaires as they were looking for tourist to write ‘I LOVE YOU’ in their language. I was confused about what to write, Malay, or Mandarin, and I’ve written both.

Bought and posted post card and unfortunately, it never arrived back home after 3 months.

McDonald’s that has a price that is close to Malaysia’s!

Bye Krakow, bye Poland!

March 24, 2014
Krakow: A Night Out In Stare Miasto, The Old Town

Eastern Europe Trip // Krakow: A Night Out In Stare Miasto, The Old Town – It was a disappointing evening at the Wieliczka Salt Mine as we couldn’t get to visit it. We took our slow time back to our hostel without rushing like Amazing Race as before, then spent some times talking to backpackers and rest. As th night was still young, we didn’t want to waste the last night at Krakow, moreover we didn’t really explore the Old Town yet, so we did a night tour of Stare Miasto, instead of sleeping at the hostel.

A tourist city is always filled with people, so as Krakow too. Touring at Krakow’s Old Town at night still feels better than touring Warsaw ‘s Stare Miasto at night as there’s still people walking around, chattering can be heard in the air, and camera flashes occasionally at the attractions.

Christmas tree with the main market square at background.

St. Mary’s Basilica, the tallest church in Krakow.

The beautiful Cloth Hall.

March 24, 2014
Krakow: Wieliczka Salt Mine, Almost

Krakow: Wieliczka Salt Mine, Almost – Trying to visit both Auschwitz Concentration Camp & Wieliczka Salt Mine in a day is definitely not a good idea, especially during winter! We missed a bus at Auschwitz and only reached back the city of Krakow at about 4pm, hopped on the 4.15pm bus hoping to reach by 5pm as the website of Wieliczka Salt Mine stated that the last entry is 5pm, yet not sure what time does it really closes, and we couldn’t make it despite we reached the Wieliczka at 4.53pm.

7 more minutes, yet we couldn’t make it as we didn’t know the direction from the bus stop. When we found the direction, only then we know it’s about 800m away. We puffed our way to the salt mine and sadly, the entrance was pitch black, closed and no people around. Then we saw a sign ‘Salt Mine closes at 3pm during Winter’, laughter broke out as we were trying to gasp for the cool air. HAHAHA.

Even if we did not miss the bus back in Auschwitz, we would still not be able to make it. So it’s surely not recommended to visit 2 major attractions in a day, unless you are on a paid tour that brings you to both of them.

The salt mine were built in the 13th century where people carved into the solid walls of salt with hand tools to extract them for table salt. It’s one of the first UNESCO listed site back in the 70s and the underground area spans up to 3km of gallery and museum. It sounds quite amazing, and it may need some times to tour around the underground as it’s quite deep and long.

Too bad, we didn’t get to visit it. A backpacker at our hostel told us that the salt mine was just ‘salty’, and that’s her description of it and she told us that we had made a good choice visiting Auschwitz first instead of the salt mine. Ah, what a comfort words to us.

March 24, 2014
Krakow: Kazimierz Jewish Quarter

Eastern Europe Trip // Krakow: Kazimierz Jewish Quarter – We were supposed to be on a public bus heading to Wieliczka Salt Mine, unfortunately we couldn’t make it, not because we missed the bus or short of time but it’s the receptionist had gave us a wrong bus info! We ended looking for the bus for an hour, asked the helpful local but no luck; sun set, night fell and times out. So the plan b was to tour around Kazimierz Jewish Quarter and only head to the the two main attractions of Krakow – Wieliczka Salt Mine and Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp the next day. This plan was quite challenging too because the salt mine and the concentration camp are both located very far away.

Back to Kazimierz, it’s a Jewish quarter in Krakow and this was like my first time coming in contact with Jews, Jewish, or Hebrew, or anything related as Jews are quite rare or none in Asia, and my passport is now allowed to go into Israel. So, it’s a very new thing to me!

With much excitement, I wandered around the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz and found, nothing much, except bunch of jewish restaurants, cool bars, Hebrews and a few Synagogue (Jewish temple). Pretty quiet at night and it took just less than an hour and a half to finish walking the whole Kazimierz. I’ve been to a Chinese temple, a church, a mosque, a Hindu temple, but not a synagogue. Too bad, it was late and it was closed for visit.

Night fell, nothing much to do, hungry, and we bought spaghetti and cooked at the hostel. That’s what a shoestring budget traveller does.

Lovely weather at Krakow, felt good.

Corpus Christi Basilica.

A synagogue.

Dinner at B Movie Hostel.

March 22, 2014
Warsaw: Taking The Metro & Leaving To Krakow By PolskiBus

Eastern Europe Trip // Warsaw: Taking The Metro & Leaving To Krakow By PolskiBus – Day 4 of the whole Eastern Europe Trip, we leaved Warsaw early in the morning to Krakow! It was still dark out there when we stepped out of the hostel that I wouldn’t recommend (Jump Inn). Feeling fresh and cold and wandered our way to the metro station – Centrum. The funny thing about the metro station was the the disabled-gate was left opened and people passed through it without scanning ticket or something. Hmm? Hiak hiak hiak, We followed the local and wandered through the gate as well.

Upon getting on the metro, it sort of like bring me to somewhere else, not today, but back in time. The squarish metro train with red, white and blue stripes just looks so retro. It’s nothing like London’s Underground or Hong Kong’s MTR. It’s old, but still cool.

It’s still looking dark out there at Dworzec Autobusowy Metro Wilanowska (Wilanowska Bus Station), and we spent a bit time at the convenient store for for breakfast while waiting for the arrival of the bus to Krakow – PolskiBus. Yes, we are budget travellers, and bus is our best friend for bring us around and PolskiBus is a good one because there’s Wifi and powerpoint for charging! And the other thing is, the bus has a toilet too!

Bye Jump Inn!

Bye Jump Inn, and no thank you. Thank you in Polish is Dziekujie (Jin-ku-yah)

On the way to Krakow, one of the oldest city in Poland and also is a very exciting place as well!

February 25, 2014
Warsaw: KFC’s Chicken Wings Are Finger Freaking Good

Warsaw: KFC’s Chicken Wings Are Finger Freaking Good! – Seriously, the KFC in Warsaw is damn good, especially the chicken wings! Well, it’s our dinner on our third day in Warsaw and some might think it’s weird that we were having KFC there because we could actually eat KFC back in the UK or Malaysia. Well, KFC in UK sucks because there’s no chilli sauce, nor the chicken is crispy enough. KFC back in Malaysia is awesome, with great Thai chilli sauce as condiment but then there’s no chicken wings as addictive as this bucket.

For about 40 Zloty (RM40++), we get about 32+1 chicken wings which I find it reasonable and mouthwatering! I can now recommend that KFC is one of the must-try. LOL.

February 25, 2014
Warsaw: Palace Of Culture And Science That Looks Like Empire State Building

Eastern Europe Trip // Warsaw: Palace Of Culture And Science That Looks Like Empire State Building – Standing at the heart of Warsaw, the capital of Poland is the Palace of Culture and Science (Palac Kultury i Nauki, PKiN), which I normally call it the Empire State Building of Poland as it really looks a bit a like with the one in New York City except this being very short, like a dwarf version of it (237m height).

A little history about the building is the name was formally called Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science, only after Soviet Union went down and they remove Mr Stalin’s name from it. As being the city’s most visible landmark, one will not missed it, it’s also located at the central train station. The building currently serves as an exhibition and offices with the Museum of Communism at the ground floor.

Initially thought of heading up to the observation floor to check it out, but the ticket to go up there is 17 Zloty, so we’ve decided to move on and spend the money somewhere else. A picture below of the building is more than enough. YEAH!

Some tank exhibition down the Palace of Culture and Science.

A picture, down below.

The modern side of Warsaw is just opposite of the palace. Cool!

February 24, 2014
Warsaw: Stare Miasto (Old Town) Revisited In Daytime

Warsaw: Stare Miasto (Old Town) Revisited In Daytime – Day 3 of Warsaw was serious for us, no more waking up late as this is the last day for us! Only two places to visit on this day and that’s to Stare Miasto (Old Town) again to have a better view in daytime and also to check out the Palace of Culture & Science, and that’s it for Warsaw.

Third day in Warsaw and I still didn’t get a glimpse of the sun, it’s cloudy but the fog was away already and the vision was getting clearer, but it’s still cold, at about 3-4 degree celcius. We took the tram to Stare Miasto as it’s quite convenient which connects directly to the main square of old town. Both night and daytime visit gave a different perspective of the place, there’s more tourist and people during daytime and it gets beautiful when it lights up at night during Christmas. So I was quite happy I’ve visited the place twice during day and night.

A clearer vision for the day in Warsaw!

Stare Miasto is on top!

A very small Carrefour Express.

Warsaw National Stadium can be seen from here.

Zapiecek, I’ve been here on the first day in Warsaw. Pretty good Polish food, dumplings.

The ‘ONE’ guy.

Well, I’ve found the original Penang bicycle mural art here. I think the famous bicycle mural by Ernest in Penang was inspired by this two fellas on a bicycle!

Feeding the bird.

FLYYYYY.

With a bear, glad that I did not get electrocuted. The whole thing lights up at night!

Press for crossing. CZEKAJ, DOTKNIJ. LOLMAO.

Back to the tram stop, next stop, the Palace of Culture & Science.

February 24, 2014
Warsaw: Kebab Dinner, National Stadium

Warsaw: Kebab Dinner, National Stadium – Things get boring in Warsaw as there’s not much to do and the 4 of us had decided to hop on the tram (randomly) and head to a place far to look for food. As the tram got further away from the city and tall buildings, we got panic and alighted at somewhere near the National Stadium. It’s still fine, just crossed a bridge.

Trying to look for something different other than kebab that stand right in fronts of the tram stop, we walked into an unknown neighbourhood of Warsaw. Along the way, we came across with a Ukrainian Restaurant, an Italian Restaurant (no more, because of the heavy lunch), and a bakery, that’s it. That’s pretty deep into the neighbourhood, like 20 minutes from the tram stop, and we’d decided to head back to the kebab. =D Still, kebab is the best thing and cheapest thing to eat.

Day 2, the Palace of Culture & Science was still covered in cloud. What a foggy foggy weather it was.

A quiet neighbourhood.

Here comes the KEBAB feast.

Warsaw National Stadium, the venue of semi final for UEFA Euro 2012!

A couple on the street.

February 23, 2014
Warsaw: Got Scammed 40 Zloty For Pasta Meal

Eastern Europe Trip // Warsaw: Got Scammed 40 Zloty For Pasta Meal – Day 2 in Warsaw, damn, we woke up at 12 and only willing to head out of the hostel at about 2pm. I guess we have forgotten to change our clock an hour forward. LOL. The night was coming as we headed out to look for lunch. We were just so lazy and unexcited about the city as we had 3 days in Warsaw. Day 2 was either head back to the Old Town or to look for Christmas Market, but since the night was so near, we went to ‘Christmas Market’. (There’s actually no Christmas Market in Warsaw, I guess we’d just mistaken the super market as Christmas Market when we asked about it at our hostel. LOL).

We were looking for food, but had no idea what to eat. Not kebab again, nor McDonald’s or KFC. We were quite stingy as well, and then came across a board writing 17.9 Zloty for an Italian set menu. Without any hesitation, we just went in a sat down. The friendly boss came and showed us the menu and it was like no where near 17.9Zloty. The boss who were unable to speak a proper English nor us able to speak Polish or Italian, we were like pointing this and that. We asked about the set lunch that was written out there, the boss said lunch hour is over, we were like ‘OMG, let’s go?’, then in a few minutes, he came and told us it’s still available in the kitchen.

Tried to ask about what’s included in the set but we just couldn’t get a proper answer. We only know it’s pasta and we did ask about the price again to be sure, the boss was like saying ‘forty, fourteen, forty’. Well, it seems reasonable 14Zloty for a pasta, hardly speak further with a different language, we said OK with enthusiasm.

First a soup of unknown, tasted garlic and onion, which was quite nice. Later a spaghetti pasta of nothing, with no meat but tasted sweet and tomato. A bit disappointed but still reasonable with the price. =) BUT, when the bill came, it was 40Zloty per person. Gosh! Scammed. Make sure you ask properly about the price, properly as in really proper, written in black and white before ordering something that is too good to be true. Feeling, mehh.

Passed by this cool place while looking for food.

The soup, garlic onion.

The spaghetti pasta.

February 22, 2014

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